Category Archives: Arts

Drag Shows in Champaign-Urbana: Interview with Amy Myers

Posted on November 2022 by Karen Medina

“Drag is an art. It is a culture.” As a cis, straight woman, I did not fully understand the cultural importance of drag shows until 2019, when I was managing a community center that has a wonderful zine collection and … Continue reading →

71 total views, 1 views today

Posted in Arts, LGBTQ, Local Arts, Women | Tagged drag shows, LGBTQ+, local culture | Comments Off

Links

Posted on November 2022 by Thomas Stromblad

The Public i is partnering with the Education Justice Project (EJP) to share writing completed by incarcerated students at the Danville Correctional Center. The EJP is a comprehensive college-in-prison program based at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Through its educational … Continue reading →

53 total views, 1 views today

Posted in Arts, incarceration, Prison Arts, Prisoners | Tagged incarceration, Prison arts | Comments Off

Reckless Law, Shameless Order: Behind the Scenes

Posted on June 2022 by Nasrin Navab

One afternoon in April of 2021 Faranak Miraftab called me to ask if I was interested in holding an art workshop with formerly incarcerated artists in continuation of the “IDENSCITY,” a conceptual art space that I had been developing … Continue reading →

226 total views

Posted in African Americans, African Americans, Arts, Immigrants, incarceration, Local Arts, Prison Arts, Prisoners, Voices, Voices of Color, Women | Tagged Immigrants, incarceration, local arts, Prison arts | Comments Off

Feminism, the Environment and Stolen Land: Socially Conscious Music from Africa and the South Pacific

Posted on June 2022 by Al Kagan

Readers may remember my two previous world music reviews, in the February 2021 and Summer 2021 issues of the Public i. All of the music described here was reviewed in the great magazine Songlines. The music is available on Apple … Continue reading →

243 total views

Posted in Africa, Arts, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, International, Music, South Africa | Tagged Africa, International, Music, South Africa, South Pacific, West Africa | Comments Off

Two Stories from Statesville Prison

Posted on May 2022 by Leo Cardez

Saving Your Mind: Mental Health in the Age of Corona “This is some next-level shit. I thought I’d seen it all in my 20 years in prison,” said Murder (no real names used), my Quarantine Sanitation Specialist co-worker, as we … Continue reading →

223 total views

Posted in Arts, incarceration, Local Arts, Prison Arts, Prisoners | Comments Off

Passing: Can One Ever “Pass”?

Posted on March 2022 by Jim Barrett

I recently watched one of the most beautiful and perhaps also one of the most significant movies I have seen in a long time. Passing, based on a 1929 novel by the Harlem Renaissance author Nella Larson (1891–1964), is a … Continue reading →

282 total views, 1 views today

Posted in African American women, African Americans, Arts, film, Racism, Section | Tagged African American women, film, race, racism | Comments Off

What’s Understood Need Not Be Explained

Posted on February 2022 by Crushion Stubbs

I’m curious to know, as a reading eye and listening ear, what are you expecting to hear from me? That the feds were somehow wrong, and Shamar was right? Or that he was justified in putting out some call to … Continue reading →

375 total views

Posted in African American, African Americans, Arts, BLM, Justice, Local Arts, Police brutality, Racism, Section, Voices | Comments Off

Filmmaker Raoul Peck: “Do We Wish for a Common History?”

Posted on February 2022 by Audrey Wells

Pristine wilderness. Sounds like a good thing, doesn’t it? A place untouched. But does the phrase “pristine wilderness,” connoting unsullied land, serve as a cultural myth that ironically reeks of genocide? Raoul Peck makes this case and many others in … Continue reading →

272 total views

Posted in Arts, film, Imperialism | Comments Off

A Conversation with Urbana Poet Laureate Ashanti Files

Posted on November 2021 by Public i

The Public i recently talked to Urbana Poet Laureate Ashanti Files Please tell our readers a little about yourself. “I am a wife, mother, and registered nurse. I currently work in mental health and addiction services. I enjoy reading, writing … Continue reading →

526 total views, 1 views today

Posted in African Americans, Arts, Community, Local Arts, Poetry, Voices of Color, Women | Comments Off

Ubuntu, Hope, and Respect: Socially Conscious Music from the African Continent, the Indian Ocean, and North America

Posted on August 2021 by Al Kagan

Music is often a reflection of struggles for social change, and a source for joy and hope for the future. This can be heard in the songs noted in my first music review article in the February 2021 issue of … Continue reading →

590 total views

Posted in Africa, African American, African American women, Arts, International, Music | Comments Off

Slightly Out of Focus: A Review of One Night in Miami and Judas and the Black Messiah

Posted on August 2021 by Sundiata Keita Cha-Jua

For more than 70 years and over a century, respectively, television and cinema have presented demeaning images of Black people. And for equally as long, African Americans have responded with boycotts, pickets and alternative visions that “depict[ed] our men and … Continue reading →

516 total views

Posted in 1968 Revolt, African American, African Americans, Arts, cinema, film, Politics, Racism, Voices, Voices of Color | Comments Off

The Quiet Strength of Bamboo: Three Wonderful Films from the Pacific to Stream

Posted on August 2021 by Audrey Wells

Add these three visually stunning and thoughtful films to your watch list. Each, to varying degrees, tells a story of indigenous culture from an insider’s point of view, and each offers the special pleasure of real people playing themselves in … Continue reading →

459 total views

Posted in Arts, cinema, film, International, International, Pacific films | Comments Off

Black Art Politicized: A Discussion with Leslie Smith

Posted on May 2021 by Drake Materre

I had the amazing opportunity to interview Leslie Smith, a board member of the Urbana–Champaign Independent Media Center (UCIMC) and the founder of Black Voices Theater Production. As someone who grew up in a household with a father who is … Continue reading →

Posted in African American Women in CU, African Americans, African Americans, Arts, Local Arts, Voices of Color, Women | Comments Off

Remembering John Prine

Posted on May 2021 by Dan Gilbert

As we trudge through the second year of the pandemic, the calendar brings gloomy anniversaries. April 7, 2021 was an especially mournful day, marking one year since John Prine died from COVID-19 complications in a Nashville hospital at the age … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts, Music, Remembering | Comments Off

“Congo to the Mississippi”: Recent Socially Conscious Music from Africa and the Americas

Posted on February 2021 by Al Kagan

It is wonderful that so much music from around the world is now easily available to us, especially through the Internet and radio. My main source is Songlines magazine, a monthly published in print and online in London. Every print … Continue reading →

Posted in Africa, Arts, Cuba, International, International, Music, South Africa | Comments Off

“The Big Scary ‘S’ Word” is Coming for your Children

Posted on December 2020 by Audrey Wells

Did you know that Abraham Lincoln and Karl Marx had a correspondence; that Helen Keller was a socialist, as was Francis Bellamy, who authored the Pledge of Allegiance; that North Dakota practices public banking; and that in the 1840s … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts, film, socialism | Comments Off

What I Learned While being the Poet Laureate for the City of Urbana . . .

Posted on December 2020 by Will Reger

I learned that the people of Urbana truly appreciated the emphasis on poetry in their public lives. They felt it improved their town in a tangible way. I learned that many poets live in this community who don’t always interact … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts, Local Arts, Poetry | Comments Off

Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center Offers Digital Venue Space and Community with its Sounds Like Community Web Series

Posted on June 2020 by Nick Goodell

The UC-IMC has always been a popular venue space for performances of all kinds, from spoken word poetry to live music, to art shows, plays and much more. But when the pandemic struck, the IMC Board of Directors was forced … Continue reading →

672 total views

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What to Watch for Dinner Tonight: Trump Through the Looking Glass

Posted on November 2018 by Audrey Wells

Who does Trump see when he looks in the mirror? Like many of us over the proverbial hill, he likely does not acknowledge his elderly self; he sees his younger self, glamorized through the pronounced image he cultivated over decades … Continue reading →

Posted in Arts, film, Trump | Comments Off

Artist Spotlight on Charlotte Prieu

Posted on November 2018 by Public i

Tell me a little about yourself and your past creative work. I am a French native and a PhD student in French Linguistics at the University of Illinois. I am very passionate about social justice, especially regarding anti-racism and intersectional … Continue reading →

Posted in African Americans, Arts, Justice, Police | Comments Off